Analogous
by WeBuiltThePyramids
Summary: Walter and Paige love each other, but neither of them know that the other knows that and both of them think that they shouldn't say anything about it.
1. Chapter 1

Paige had been fast asleep on the upstairs couch for hours.

Walter didn't blame her. The day's case had been like so many of their recent jobs – something that had appeared so simple on the surface that had quickly grown serious. As Toby had said earlier in the day – a phrase that he often used – _well, that escalated quickly._ Walter didn't know why he always phrased it like that, but it certainly fit. In this case, the situation that developed had required knowledge of the building they were in – specific knowledge that none of their genius skills could conjure up. If it hadn't been for the third shift custodian, dozens of people would have died. It unnerved everyone on Team Scorpion that for once, they wouldn't have been enough.

"Thinking about how Weasley saved our asses today?"

"Huh?" Walter frowned as he looked up at Toby. "Are you talking about Alexa?"

"Well, yeah," Toby said.

"Isn't her last name Wright?"

"Yes." Toby was looking at him as if his head was as dense as molasses. "It's a reference to her hair."

"What?"

"Weasleys are all...they have...never mind." Toby shook his head. "You know, there's nothing shameful about a normal helping us. Paige and Cabe are essential pieces to this puzzle. You know that."

Walter knew Toby was assuming that he felt uncomfortable that a normal had essentially saved the day. But that wasn't it – not at all. Everyone was valuable. That was one of the few lessons that he hadn't needed to be taught.

What terrified him was that Alexa was almost not there at all. The building was supposed to be empty. She hadn't checked her email or messages before coming in to work that day and didn't know she wasn't supposed to show up. They had been so close to failing and had succeeded only because of her arrival. Something that wasn't meant to happen. Something that so easily could have not happened at all. And that absolutely terrified Walter.

"I'm fine," he said, realizing he hadn't responded to the behaviorist. "I was just thinking about how so much of our lives is left to chance, no matter how hard we work to control our own circumstances."

Toby nodded. "Yep. You know, there are studies that said that geniuses are more likely to be anxious, depressed, because we're almost _too_ aware of circumstances." He cleared his throat quietly. "I don't know how true that is. But I do think about it."

Walter nodded, standing up. "I'm going to go check on Paige."

"Is she still here?"

"Yeah. She was tired. She had to stare at that LCD for a long time while I was with Alexa. And remember that coding stuff that she only learned once. I told her she could rest upstairs before driving home."

"You just wanted her to stay longer."

Walter cocked his head. "I don't follow. She's asleep. It's not like we're spending time together."

"No, but she's here. And you always hate when she leaves."

"I'm not forcing her to be here against her will."

"I didn't say that," Toby said. "I was just making an observation."

"Yeah, well, I'm going to see how she is," Walter said. "She's seemed stressed lately. She hasn't been sleeping."

"You know that?"

"She told me." Walter turned from Toby, taking the stairs carefully. If she was sleeping peacefully, he didn't want to wake her up.

He changed his mind about that as soon as he saw her. She was curled up on the couch, a blanket her mother had made for her covering her from feet to shoulders, but she was anything but peaceful. Her foot was twitching, and while the blanket wasn't particularly well crafted nor incredibly warm, she appeared to be sweating. As Walter approached, he saw that damp tendrils clung to her cheeks and neck. "Paige?" He asked, cautiously.

"I love you," she said in a quiet voice that sounded terrified and desperate. "Walter, I love you."

Walter froze, staring down at her. She wasn't awake. She didn't know he was there. She...

He cocked his head, his thoughts racing. Maybe he'd heard her wrong? That had to be it. She had to have said something else, she was dating Tim Armstrong, if she loved _anyone_ , it would have to be...

"Walter," she whimpered again, her breathing loud and labored.

"What?" Walter asked, the word escaping him before he could stop himself.

"I love you," she said again, her body shaking as she started to cry.

"Paige!" Walter dropped to his knees next to her and grabbed her hand. She was distressed, she was shaking, she... "Paige, it's okay, it's okay..."

She started to shake, her jaw clenched, her breath coming in hisses.

"Walt? Paige?"

Walter jumped, letting go of Paige's hand and standing up quickly as Toby appeared at the top of the stairs. "She's..." he looked back at Paige in alarm as she started gagging. "Paige!"

"Hey, hey," Toby said, jogging up. He surveyed the situation – taking what Walter thought was an excruciatingly long time. "What's wrong with her?" He asked.

Toby shook his head. "She's been under a lot of stress, we all have."

" _Toby_."

"Sleep paralysis," he said. "She can't move or speak, but she'll come out of it in seconds or minutes. It happens when people aren't moving smoothly and easily between stages of sleep."

"So we should wake her up?"

"No," Toby said. "We shouldn't interrupt an episode. That can make it worse."

"But she...can she breathe?" Walter's heart was racing and he felt slightly dizzy. He hoped he wouldn't stagger backward.

"Yes," Toby said. "She's not comfortable right now. She will be a little freaked out when she wakes up but she's not in danger." He put a hand on Walter's arm. "Let's go downstairs. She'll be really embarrassed if she wakes up and sees we witnessed this."

Walter hesitated. _Leave her alone? She's distressed._

"Walt. Come on." The tugging at his arm was insistent. Walter turned and followed Toby. Knowing what was happening with Paige, even knowing she wasn't in danger, wasn't stopping his head from spinning.

"She was crying," Walter said.

"People cry in their sleep fairly often," Toby said. "If they're having trouble expressing emotions in their conscious state, their brain releases those emotions in sleep as a sort of release. I'm sure you cry in your sleep, even if you don't realize it."

"She was talking in her sleep," he added as they reached the ground floor.

"Also normal, if you're not shifting in and out of sleep stages naturally." Walter hoped his face wouldn't give away that there was more – as soon as he'd mentioned that she'd been talking, he regretted it – but Toby stopped and stared at him. "She wasn't just mumbling, said something you could understand, didn't she? What did she say?"

Walter hesitated. "Uh..." Toby raised his eyebrows, and Walter shifted his weight. "Uh... _things_."

Toby's face changed in a way that Walter couldn't decipher. It alarmed him. " _What_?"

"What...what sort of things?"

Walter dropped down into his chair. "Nothing." He frowned, his eyes searching the desk for his laptop, then he realized he wasn't sitting in his chair at all. "This is Paige's desk."

"Glad we have your I.Q. to figure this sort of thing out," Toby said sarcastically.

"She said that she loved me," Walter blurted. He'd been fooling himself if he thought he could keep that to himself. "She said...she said she loved me."

Toby walked over, sinking down on the edge of the desk, looking down at Walter with what the younger man recognized as genuine concern in his eyes. "Walt...are you sure?"

Walter nodded.

"I mean, she didn't know you were up there with her. Are you sure she meant _you_?"

He nodded again. "She said m – my name. And she said she loved me. _Me_."

"Walter, she's with Tim right now. You know that. He may be thousands of miles away, but..."

"But I heard her. I'm not making this up, Toby. I heard her. She said..."

"I believe you, Walt, I do," Toby said. "But she said that while dreaming. She may not even remember it when she wakes up, and even if she is in love with you – and I'm not saying she's not – if you confront her about this, she's going to be really frazzled. She might not even realize how she feels, consciously, I mean."

"But I..." Walter bit his lip. Toby already knew how he felt about Paige. He lowered his forehead to her desk, frustrated, almost wishing he hadn't heard anything at all.

* * *

" _He's not going to make it," Sly said, his eyes wide with shock, his face pale. "There's so much blood he's...he's not going to make it."_

" _We've failed." Toby's eyes were rapidly welling up. "We've failed. I can't believe it." He bent over his friend. "Walter, buddy, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."_

 _Paige's hand was pressed so tightly against her mouth she could hardly breathe, the word 'no' pounding rhythmically in her head. They always survived. They always survived. She'd survived. Happy had survived. Sly had survived and Cabe had survived and Walter had survived more times than any of them could count. But...not this time? Why not this time? Why couldn't Toby save him?_

" _Paige," came Cabe's gentle voice. "It's your turn."_

 _She realized that Happy and Toby, clinging to each other, had backed away from where Walter lay. Biting her lip, Paige dropped beside him._

 _Last words were important. She'd lectured Walter on last words, once. Oftentimes, people passed on without their loved ones having a chance to say goodbye. She knew she should be grateful, considering the circumstances, that she had that chance. But while she knew what she had to say, she hated – hated – that it had to be under these circumstances. She didn't want to tell him like this._

" _Walter," she said, dropping next to him, running her hand along the side of his face. "Walter, look at me, can you look at me."_

 _He did. She knew he would, if he was still strong enough to, he would. He'd do anything for her. He loved her, and he didn't know that she knew. "I love you," she said, her voice laden with emotion. "Walter, I love you." She couldn't believe this was it. He was d_ ying _. "Walter," she managed, biting her lip, almost unable to see him through her tears._

 _She could tell by the way his face changed as he looked at her that he believed it, and she dared to hope that maybe, just maybe, the words acted as a brief reprieve from the pain. "I love you," she whispered again. She wished she had a lifetime to tell him. To show him._

Her mother's blanket balled up between her hands as Paige sat up and gathered it to her chest, blind spots disrupting her vision as she stared straight ahead, struggling to breathe. She could feel her heart pounding and for some reason, she felt panicked. She wracked her brain, trying to figure out why.

She'd had a bad dream. Something happened to Walter. Something bad. It _was_ a dream, wasn't it? She thought she could hear him talking downstairs. Yes, it had to be a dream, she wouldn't be napping up here if something had _really_ happened.

But the terrible dread, the feeling that accompanied her as she unconsciously watched him die, felt too real. "Oh God," Paige whispered, putting a hand on her forehead. "Why couldn't this be one I don't remember?" Walter had told her once that the human brain was good at helping block out unpleasant dreams as a sort of defense mechanism. Either she had somehow lost that ability, or this one was too strong to block out.

She felt a chill. She'd been sweating, and now she was too cold. She stood up shakily, wrapping the blanket around her, oddly relieved at her ability to move. It wasn't particularly warm, and it was oddly shaped, but Paige was incredibly grateful she had it to wrap around herself. She couldn't go downstairs and let them see the sweat stains on her top. She couldn't let them see how distraught she was.

She walked into the area of the loft that served as Walter's bedroom and studied herself in the mirror. She ran her fingers through her hair. She looked tired, but...maybe if she didn't stand right under one of the lights, they wouldn't know the state she'd been in when she'd woken up.

Wrapping the blanket more tightly around herself, Paige descended the stairs, being careful not to trip. Her eyes darted around the room, needing to know where anyone still there was located. Walter was sitting at her desk, and a rush of relief overcame her at tangible proof that he was still alive. Toby was putting on his jacket, and he glanced up, noticing her. "Hey Paige," he said. "I was just telling Walt that I was going to take off. It's getting late. You haven't gone to pick up Ralph?"

"He's spending the night at Daniel's. I told you that." Paige honestly couldn't remember if she'd told him that.

"Alright. Did you want to go to Kovelsky's?"

 _I have pit stains and I can't take this blanket into Kovelsky's._ "I'm alright," she said with a smile. "Thank you, though."

"Alright." Toby smiled. "You feeling okay, Paige? You look a little...frazzled."

 _You just love pointing that out, don't you_? "I'm fine. I'm fine. Just...you know, sometimes you sleep and it throws you off. I woke up and wasn't sure where I was, that's all." She walked toward her desk, searching for her purse. She wanted to tell Walter she was glad he was alive. But that wouldn't make sense. He didn't know that she'd dreamed about losing him.

* * *

 **I've been thinking a lot about how Paige knows Walter loves her, but he doesn't know that he's told her. And I thought, wouldn't it be fun to have them in a situation where that's the case both ways? Where she somehow tells him that she loves him, but she also doesn't know that she told him, so they both know how the other feels, but neither knows that the other knows how they feel. There's going to be some angst in here, but don't worry, I almost always do happy endings and this will not deviate from the norm.**


	2. Chapter 2

Walter was glad to find a bar that wasn't busy – and that didn't have a dance floor. He supposed not wanting high levels of external stimulation was counterproductive to him wanting to drown out his thoughts, but he found all the noise unpleasant, and perhaps the mere change of scenery would be enough. There were a few people at tables, but Walter headed to the bar. There was a girl sitting at the far end who appeared interested in the man behind, so perhaps they would cancel each other out and he'd be left alone.

"Oh good, a customer. I'll tell ya, man, it's been a rough one tonight. Very slow." The bartender smiled. "My name's Johnny."

"And it might be a sin," shouted the girl from the end of the bar. Walter supposed this was another song reference he didn't get.

"I'll just have a water."

"A water?" He cocked his head. "You're at a bar."

Walter grunted. _What's with the third degree?_ "I'm the designated driver."

Johnny shrugged, filling a glass of water and handing it to Walter, glancing past the genius to the door. "Here you go, bro."

"Thanks." The water was cold. Walter wondered why he was surprised. No one served tepid water without being asked and he hadn't asked. He wasn't even sure if he'd wanted it served like that.

The sound of light footfalls came to a stop just behind him. "Hey, stranger."

Walter jumped at the familiar voice, turning around. "Linda!"

She grinned, gesturing at the seat next to him. "Is this taken?"

"N – no. No, go ahead. What are you doing here? Is one of your..." he glanced around, searching for any signs of her marketing.

"No," she said, "no speed dating tonight. Not here, anyway. This is a pretty sad and lonely bar." Her eyes fell on his glass. "Is that water?"

"Yes."

"You don't want a drink?"

"Water is a drink."

"No, I mean...it's a bar."

"I don't drink alcohol. Not usually."

She cocked her head. "Then why are you here? Are you with someone?"

"No." _We wouldn't be here if I was._ "I just...they say when you're...less happy than you want to be, you go to a bar and drink. So that's what I'm doing. Sans alcohol."

There was what he thought he identified as concern in her expression. When she asked "what's the matter?" a tiny part of him celebrated that he'd picked up on it. The rest of him hated that he still had to celebrate victories that small.

He was glad that Paige didn't know that he loved her. She deserved better than to be burdened with that.

" _Wal_ ter?"

Linda's eyebrows were raised and Walter nodded, realizing he hadn't responded. "There's...there's nothing the matter but me."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I'm sure you don't want to hear about it," Walter said. "That's not why you came here."

"Walter, I said this is a sad and lonely bar. I didn't come here in search of happy stories." She tipped her head to the side. "Tell me."

Walter sighed, looking down at the condensation formed on the countertop by his glass. He wasn't drunk – he wasn't even buzzed – and yet he couldn't put the glass down on the ring. He wanted to talk to someone, he hated keeping this all in and she was much more objective than anyone else who knew anything about this. But at the same time, letting knowledge out was exposure, and Walter hated being exposed.

But he trusted her – at least to keep confidentiality.

"There's someone...in my life. What I never told you...when you and I went out, is...I used to believe that while having relationships with people was essential – no one can truly go through life without others – I thought that romantic love was...was an illusion. A fairy tale. Something that wasn't real." He realized that his words might come off as insulting to Linda, but she didn't seem to be offended. He supposed they _did_ only go out for a couple of weeks and never went farther than a kiss goodnight. "And eventually, I realized that I'm in love. But by the time I understood how I feel..."

"You were too late?"

"She was seeing someone else. And I think she also...also felt that I'd pushed her away."

"Have you tried to move on?"

"I've tried not to think about her. But it doesn't work. No matter what I try, I..." He shook his head.

"Aw, Walter," she said, sliding a hand over on top of his. "You'll meet someone else. I've been in love a couple times. It hurts when it doesn't work the way you want it to. But..." she trailed off. "What?"

"I'm not going to find someone else," Walter said. "I'm not...I'm not normal. I don't _get_ these types of feelings. I know that for most people, meeting someone else is realistically in the cards, but...not me. I am very smart. I know...I know more than most people could ever hope to understand but one thing I am absolutely certain about is that I love her and I always will."

Linda was quiet. "I'm sorry." She bit her lip. "If it helps, I sort of know how you feel."

Walter furrowed his brow. "How?"

"I'm not in love. At least not now. But I know what it feels like. I know how it feels when it's not reciprocated, and I want it. I want it so badly. And I keep coming up short. What?"

Walter had hoped that his shift when she'd talked about reciprocation had gone unnoticed. Linda took a sip of her drink. "She has feelings for you?"

"She did. At one point. And two nights ago...she had a dream. She was talking as she slept and she...she said that she loved me."

"Is this Paige?"

"What?"

Linda smiled. "It's Paige."

"I...how...how did you..."

"Unless you were creeping around someone's house and watching them as they slept, you'd had to have overheard this dream in the garage." Linda's smile turned into a smirk. "I may not be a genius, Walt."

 _But this definitely doesn't require ingenuity._ "Right," Walter said, nodding. "Right."

"Does she know how you feel about her?"

Walter shook his head. "No. Fortunately."

Linda cocked her head. " _Fortunately_?"

"I'm not a good human," Walter said.

"Walter, you're an incredibly good person. You saved my..."

"I know I'm not...not _evil_ ," Walter said, feeling slightly exasperated. "I have good intentions. And I want to help people. But Paige deserves someone human. And I am not good at being one."

Linda sat back slightly. "Can I ask a question?"

"Sh – sure."

"What in the hell does that mean?"

"What...I don't..."

"Walter, look. You're a challenge. I know that. You aren't a natural at being emotionally present, so you work for it. You can be unpleasantly candid. You have weaknesses just like the rest of us and maybe those weaknesses are more obvious because your strengths are also obvious. But _God_ Walter, you're human. You are every bit as human as I am."

He opened his mouth to respond, but Walter found himself at a loss for words. He wasn't used to his humanity being affirmed. Dropping his eyes, he stared at the now nearly empty glass. There was ice in the glass. Of course the water was cold.

"I'm not the _type_ of human that Paige deserves," Walter said. "She should have someone who knows when to pry and when to back away. Someone who...who doesn't need to be told what she needs. She should be with someone better than me."

"Walter," Linda said quietly, "you can think you don't deserve her. Fine. But it seems like she wants you. You don't say things you don't mean when you dream."

"I don't know if I want her to be in love with me."

"Why not? Walter, that doesn't make sense."

Walter wasn't crying – not exactly – but there was a burning in his eyes that he didn't usually feel. "She's fallen in love with a version of myself that doesn't exist. That I don't know if I can ever be. Whenever I take a step forward, I always regress. And I know I'm doing it but I can't stop it. And I love her. I love her so much and I want us to be together but I don't want to make her miserable and I don't see a way where we can be together without that happening."

"Except maybe she fell in love with someone who _does_ exist. You. The you that's already here. I'm not saying that you don't have things to work on," Linda said when he opened his mouth to protest. "But no one is perfect. Paige isn't. _Stop_ ," Linda said firmly when he started to speak. "I'm sure you think she's everything that the universe has ever gotten right. And honestly? That's beautiful. But what you do need to understand is everyone has flaws and you don't have to be perfect when you start a relationship. You just have to recognize what your weaknesses are and actively work to improve upon them. And so does the person you're with. And you have to communicate. You _have_ to."

"She said that she loved me in a dream," Walter said. "She might not even know that's how she feels yet. Or if I tell her I know, she'd...she'd feel put on the spot. She might be angry at me for overhearing even though it wasn't on purpose. And she's still in a relationship with someone else."

"I guess what you have to decide is, are you really concerned about that, or are you scared and using this as an excuse to not risk your heart?"

Walter lowered his head. "I just don't want her to hate me."

* * *

"I just don't want him to hate me."

"Who?"

Paige lifted her head. "Ralph? What on earth are you doing up?"

"I couldn't sleep, and it's eleven in the morning in Amman. I thought you might be Skyping Tim, but I couldn't hear any talking. So then I came out here because thought that you weren't feeling well. Because you've been really quiet the past couple of days."

Paige wondered if she should tell Ralph that she hadn't spoken to Tim in over a week. She would have to tell him eventually. Sighing and resting her hands on her thighs, she looked at her son. "Tim and I aren't going to be Skyping each other anymore."

"You guys broke up?"

The boy quickly neutralized his expression, but not before Paige noticed the light in his eyes as he realized what she meant. "We did. I ended things. He was understanding."

"Then...if you guys are okay...who do you not want to hate you?"

"Ralph," Paige said, putting her head in her hands. "I don't..."

"Mom, let me help you." He walked up and put his hands on her knees. "We used to be all that each other had, you know."

Paige smiled, reaching for her son's hands. "Ralph, it's just adult relationships are complicated, and I know this kind of thing is supposed to be my strong suit, but _I_ don't even understand this. I don't know how to explain it to myself, which means I don't think I have a prayer of knowing how to translate it to you."

"Then talk to me like I'm not me. Talk to me like I'm you. Because I _am_ you, Mom. We're family. And I understand a lot more than you think."

Paige leaned forward and kissed his forehead. "Do you remember when Cabe got really hurt and we talked about how, if you knew you were seeing someone for the last time, it'd be really important to say everything you'd been holding back?"

"Yeah."

"I had a dream the other night where I lost someone. And what I wanted to say to them was something that I can't actually say."

Ralph cocked his head. "What?"

"Relationships are complicated, Ralph. There are a lot of layers to them." _I'm in love with Walter and I know that Walter is in love with me but he doesn't know I know and if he finds out how long I've known, he will feel embarrassed and exposed and he won't trust me again and I can't lose him._ "And sometimes it's hard to identify exactly how you feel about someone, and you...you might behave in a way that hurts them. You might make mountains out of molehills and hurt them in the process. And by the time you work out how you feel, it's far too late."

"Isn't that exactly what we thought about that job from earlier this week?" Ralph asked. "We thought we had run out of time. But we made it. Alexa helped us."

"Alexa could just as easily have never been there." Paige knew the pure chance by which they'd acquired the ability to finish the mission had unnerved Walter. "There's so many ways that that could have gone wrong."

"But it didn't." Ralph bit his lip. "Mom, whenever you talk about relationships you talk about all these what ifs, all these ways it could go wrong. But what if it doesn't? Alexa showed up the other day. Why can't whatever's bothering you turn out okay too? It could. Things go right sometimes. How can you not even want to try?"

The emotion in Ralph's voice alarmed Paige at first. When she realized that he was likely reacting this way because he somehow suspected exactly what was troubling her, she wasn't sure if that helped or made the feeling worse. _He can't know about space._ But he probably _did_ know that she was talking about Walter.

 _Oh God._

"Ralph, it's past your bedtime, sweetie." She ran a hand through his hair. "Get some rest. You have school tomorrow."

"You always told me to never give up. To work hard for what's worth it even if it's scary."

Paige was tired, frustrated, and she pressed her lips together because she knew if she'd allowed them to part she would have snapped at her son to shut up. "Ralph, I just need to be alone right now, and you need sleep."

The boy shoved his hands into pockets that weren't there, and looked down in confusion before remembering he was in pajamas. "Good night, Mom." He turned, then looked back at her. "I love you."

Paige smiled. "I love you, Ralph."

When the boy was gone, Paige lowered her arm to the table then rested her forehead on it, sighing loudly. She hadn't broken up with Tim because of her feelings for Walter. But now that he wasn't in the picture, now that her subconscious couldn't bring up Tim whenever the genius looked at her, or smiled at her, or handed her a cup of coffee. Now she couldn't convince herself that

It wouldn't have been fair to Tim to keep him around so she'd continue to have an excuse, but as much as Paige tried to tell herself she would still have broken up with him if she'd known how this past week was going to play out, she realized that wasn't the truth.


	3. Chapter 3

**So there were only supposed to be three chapters of this, but I've been struggling so much to write lately, and I'll be gone all weekend (I'm seeing Hamilton omg omg omg) and wanted to get at least this part out before the next episode airs, so I cut the final scenes and will include them in a fourth chapter. Sorry for the hiatus on this fic, hopefully I'll have it finished soon.**

* * *

"Check it out, check it out," Toby said, removing the contents of the envelope and clearing his throat, sliding one arm around Happy's shoulder. He began to read loudly. "Mr. Patrick Quinn and the late Mrs. Grace Quinn request the honor of your presence at the ceremonies uniting their daughter Happy Quinn and Dr. Tobias M. Curtis, son of..." Toby trailed off. "What, Walt?"

"What? N – nothing." Walter shrugged quickly. "Nothing. I'm listening."

Paige raised her eyebrows. She knew his body language well enough to know something – though she couldn't possibly even begin to guess what – had bothered him about what Toby was reading. She folded her arms.

"No, not nothing," Toby said curiously, "you have that look on your face. What about this is possibly itching your brain, 197?"

"I'm..." Walter glanced in Paige's direction. _Nope,_ she thought. _You're not getting direction from me. Figure it out. I know you can._ "I'm...just a little confused as to why Happy's mother is included on the invitation."

"Be...cause...she's Happy's mother?" Sylvester suggested hesitantly.

"But _she_ isn't requesting the honor of our presence," Walter said. "She's not here. So why does it say that she also wants us to attend the wedding?"

"Because it's polite, Walter," Toby said. "She's Happy's mother, and if she was here, she'd be on the invite. It shouldn't make a difference."

"But it doesn't make sense," Walter said. "How is it polite to put words in her mouth? She never even knew you."

"She didn't know me either," Happy said pointedly. "But she's still my mother. My father and I loved each other. If he approves of Toby, so would she, and he wanted to put her on the invitation, so that's what we're doing. And I'm glad it's this way." She raised her eyebrows. "Is that good enough for you, O'Brien?"

Walter looked at her in silence for a moment, then shrugged. "Fair enough."

Paige rolled her eyes. He still didn't get it. "Unbelievable," she muttered to Sly.

"Anyway," Toby said loudly, proceeding to read off the rest of the invitation.

"I think it sounds lovely, you guys," Paige said, crossing the room and throwing her arms around Toby. She turned to Happy and raised an eyebrow in question. Happy stared back at her a moment, then smiled and nodded. Paige grinned back as they hugged. "I'm so happy for you guys."

"Thank you," Toby said. "I honestly can't believe it's almost here."

* * *

"How many people are being invited to the ceremony?" Paige asked as Toby entered the kitchen, raising her coffee cup to her mouth. It was still a tad too hot for her recent taste.

"Well, we're trying to balance the whole 'big wedding' part of it with the whole 'no money' part, so that's been a challenge, but you know what? We're geniuses. We solve problems more difficult than this on the daily."

"I'm sure no matter what you do, and no matter how it all happens, it'll be wonderful," Paige said. "You guys are going to be so happy. I envy you, you know."

"Well, you know, you did already meet the boyfriend's parents and as we pointed out, that significantly increases the likelihood of..."

"Tim is not my boyfriend anymore, Toby," Paige said, just wanting him to shut up.

He stopped. "Really?"

"Yeah. A few days ago."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I ended things. It just wasn't going to work out. Better to do it now rather than lead him on."

"That's good." Toby poured a cup of coffee for him, and then started on a second one. "Letting people believe you love them when you don't isn't fair."

"I never told _him_ I love him," Paige said. "And I didn't. But I...I think he was maybe getting close to saying it to me. And I realized that. And I realized that if he did, if I said it back, I'd be lying. And I don't like to say it when I don't mean it. I know you know what that's like with Happy."

"It took her a while to say it back," Toby said.

"Did that bother you? That you were more...emotionally equipped...than she was?"

"I _still am_ way better at that," Toby said. "But that's okay. She needs someone who will constantly tell her, even if she doesn't always say it back. She responds to consistency, and love, and support. And I'm more than willing to give it to her, because I love her, and that means I love her no matter what she struggles with."

Paige smiled. "And that's why you two are so perfect together." She put her hand on Toby's. "I can't wait until you guys get married. I guarantee you I'm going to cry."

"You and me both," Toby said with a grin. There was a pause. "So..."

"What?" Paige cocked her head. "What do you want to say?"

"I was just thinking. You were awfully silent earlier when Walt was questioning the word choice on our wedding invitations," Toby commented.

"He has to learn," Paige said with a shrug. "I can't babysit him through everything."

Toby raised his eyebrows. "I just don't understand how you can love how I help Happy with her weaknesses so much and completely ignore Walter's.

"Toby, I don't have time nor the patience to spoon feed him on these things. I've been working on him for almost three years now. And I already have a son."

"You also have a _job_."

Paige cocked her head at the sudden tension in Toby's voice. "What does that mean?"

"I mean, you were hired here to help translate the world for us, right? Mostly Walter. All of us yes, but we all know it's mostly Walter. Just as all of us help with Ralph's development, but Happy's blind great aunt can see that it's mostly Walter that helps with that too. You three have been a unit since the day you met, whether you and Walter realize it or not. And it's beautiful, I'll fully acknowledge that. But if your job is largely to help Walter, and you're currently helping Walter by not doing anything, you're not really doing your job. If you're not helping him, his progress or lack thereof will be exactly the same whether you're working for Scorpion or not. And quite frankly, Paige, as much as I like you, Happy and I are doing your job right now and we sure could use your cut of the pay to help pay for our wedding."

"How _dare_ you. I'm letting Walter fly on his own because that's what's best for him. I know he can do it. He just doesn't know he can and that's what he needs to figure out."

"You're letting Walter fly on his own because you've lost patience with him, not because it's a good strategy." Toby's face was red, and he pointed a finger at her in a signal to let him finish. "You want him to be something he can't be. You're frustrated that he's not the man you always dreamed you'd end up with, and yet you want to end up with him. You don't know how to handle that. So you've started hating him, because it's the only way you know how to react. He _was_ improving until you got with Tim and started ignoring him, stopped doing your job as enthusiastically as you had for the previous two years. You became the person that you've always tried to protect us from. And I get that your feelings for him are complicated and I acknowledge that, but you're here to take care of him when we're in a professional setting. And I get that if you are to ever have a relationship with him, you guys both need to work on yourselves. But we are a team first. Scorpion needs to operate well above all else, that's both of your philosophies, right? And if you're unable to compartmentalize your personal feelings for him enough to do your job, or if you can't at least figure out what these feelings are, then I'm sorry, but what exactly _are_ you doing here? We can grab anyone off the streets to do paperwork or help us carry industrial equipment. You're here because of a skillset you're not using because you wish Walter was the guy you've been building up in your head since you were in sixth grade."

Paige opened her mouth to respond, then turned on her heel and walked away. She hated herself for it – it looked like a temper tantrum – but she had no response.

As soon as she reached the door, she thought of one. Spinning back around, she returned to the kitchen. "I _do_ know what my feelings for Walter are," she snapped at Toby. "And I already figured out that I'd been doing some things wrong. But thanks for rubbing it in and pointing out other ways that I've been a horrible person. I really appreciate it."

As she stormed out a second time, Paige wondered exactly what she'd been expecting to gain by going back in the first place.


	4. Chapter 4

**Whew a lot has happened since I updated this (again I am sooooo sorry this was supposed to be all up in the same week and then life happened), but how proud are we all of Walter for standing up for himself in 3.15? Daaaaamn I should have given that big ol' speech of Toby's in chapter 3 to Walter instead.**

 **Anyway I kinda recommend re-reading the first three chapters before you read the fourth so you don't get stories confused but if you have a super memory, read on now. : )**

* * *

"Mom, look what I won!"

Paige looked up from her laptop, glad to get her hands off the hot keyboard. It had to be one hundred and ten degrees out there, and even inside, in a tank top and what her father would have referred to has _booty shorts_ , she was sweltering.. "Is that an iPad?" She looked suspiciously at Sylvester and Walter.

"We went to the arcade," Sylvester said. "It's a million degrees outside. The 'nice day outdoors' that you suggested was not going to happen."

"It is cooling off, though," Toby said as he wandered through the main area. His eyes fell on Paige and his eyebrows shot up. "I must say, Dineen, that is a lovely outfit that you almost have on there."

She rolled her eyes. "Shut up." Looking pointedly back at her son, she cleared her throat. "How did you get the iPad, Ralph?"

"Many of those games can be manipulated to your advantage using probabilities," Walter said. "Between the three of us, he hit dozens of jackpots. Had enough credits for the iPad in just over an hour."

"We could have done it under an hour if we'd worked out the calculations ahead of time," Sylvester said, responding defensively to a comment Paige hadn't even made. "But that added precious minutes to our time."

"We should be able to go much quicker should we return to the establishment," Walter said.

"I get it," Paige said with an amused grin. "When I was a lifeguard, the girl swimmers wouldn't shave their legs for a month prior to their championship meet. Their logic was the hair created just a tiny bit more drag. Then the night before they'd all shave, and they all swore that strategy improved their times."

"That's a weird story, Mom."

"I'm trying to relate to what you guys are doing," Paige said, ruffling his hair. "I figure I always ask Walter and you to try and understand me, so it's only fair that I do the same, right?" She ignored the pointed look Toby was giving her from across the room. "Let me see that iPad, tell me what you're planning to do with it..."

Ralph chattered on excitedly, and Paige did her best to try and understand what he was saying. She'd done a lot of thinking over the past few days, mostly about how her behavior towards Walter was surely affecting her son, who was so much like him. She'd become distraught in her bathroom the previous night, realizing that she'd never be fluent in their language and they'd never be fluent in hers. But one didn't have to be _fluent_. They just had to be able to communicate.

Eventually, Ralph ran off to find Happy – presumably, Sylvester said, to tell her about all the electrical issues the roller rink attached to the arcade had. "It'd be a great way for her to earn extra money for the wedding," Sylvester commented.

As the mathematician wandered in the direction of the kitchen, Paige bit her lip, looking up at Walter. She'd been rehearsing what to say all morning, and yet, she hesitated.

She'd spent the better part of three days thinking about her argument with Toby. She knew he was wrong about some things. But he was right about a _lot_ more.

Walter was the one who was supposed to be low E.Q., struggling with his emotions, naming them, knowing what to do with them, acting upon them. So why was she such an idiot?

She'd known that he loved her for a long time. And it took a dream – of all things – to make her realize that what she'd told him months ago was actually completely true.

If she was honest with herself, it wasn't just the dream.

"Hey, uh, Walter?"

He smiled pleasantly at her. "Yeah?"

"So the case we worked on last week. Alexa was really friendly with you. It seemed...a little bit...like she was into you. And that bothered me. But it wasn't supposed to bother me. Because I was in a relationship and I knew that you..." Paige cleared her throat. "And so when we got back..."

"You knew that I what?"

"What?"

"You said _I knew that you_ and then you stopped."

"Uh..." Paige wrung her hands. "I knew that you and I had, at one point..." she gestured vaguely between the two of them. "We were maybe working toward something. And so I thought well, okay, it's just strange for me to think about you maybe being interested in someone else just out of habit, but I think my brain was trying to tell me..."

"That makes perfect sense, you know," Walter said quickly. "Oftentimes our subconscious tries to tell us something, but we don't know, not on the outside, and then we're in a less aware state, it becomes clearer because our conscious defenses are down. That's when we admit to things that we may not fully realize when we're awake."

Paige blinked in surprise. "So you know, then."

Walter looked cautiously at her. "Uh...yes."

Her eyes widened slightly. "You remembered." _When? And why didn't he say anything to me?_

Walter blinked. "What?"

"You're not talking about space?"

"Was I in space in your dream?"

"My..." Paige trailed off just as she saw Walter cock his head, looking at her as if he'd just thought of something. She frowned. "Do you know something?"

"Do _you_ know something?"

"I'm confused."

"So am I."

"Okay." Paige jumped up. "Can we go somewhere to talk?"

Walter looked perplexed. "It seems rather ridiculous to relocate to have a conversation. It'd be much more efficient to just continue as we are, right here."

 _Just continue as we are._ Paige knew he was only talking about the conversation. But somehow, she'd lost her nerve. "Can we drive?" She asked. "Go to...I don't know, the park or the beach or something. It's starting to cool off, and by the time we get there...I don't...I just...I can't do this right here." _I'm too far in to back out now, but I need time to rebuild my confidence. That's something I think – I hope – you can understand._ Her thoughts were almost immediately countered. _He can't read your mind, Paige._

"I...I guess." Walter shrugged. "We can do that. We don't have anything going on."

 _Stop it, Dineen, Jesus Christ,_ Paige thought as her brain leapt into overdrive, trying to analyze what he meant by the last sentence. Her palms were starting to sweat, and not from the heat. She couldn't remember the last time she was this nervous about something that wasn't life or death.

* * *

Walter watched Paige out of the corner of his eye.

They'd been walking along the beach for the better part of twenty minutes, occasionally making small talk, bringing up the heat six times even though it had dropped significantly, but passing over three quarters of the time in silence. Ordinarily, he wouldn't mind. He loved spending time with her, just the two of them alone, whether it be conversation, working on some project, working a case, or passing time in complete silence. Her presence calmed him, centered him, made him happy.

But not tonight. Not like it usually did. She was distressed, she had been back at the garage, and he didn't know why. She had to have known from their back and forth from an hour ago that he'd witnessed at least something from her dream on the couch the previous week, and yet she was fixating on space. It didn't take someone of his I.Q. to know she was referencing his time in Richard Elia's space capsule, though he still had no real memory of that time. In truth, he hadn't given it much thought. He'd likely just been a bit loopy, or even nonresponsive, for most of the time. But now that Paige brought it up, he wondered if there was more to it.

He wondered if he'd said something nasty to Tim. That would have explained part of her attitude towards him back then. Walter hoped that wasn't it. He hated Tim, hated the way he pressured her into things, hated the way he wanted to hit things – or people – when he got angry. But he also hated how his behavior towards Tim had hurt Paige.

Hurting the woman next to him was the last thing he wanted to do.

"So," Paige said, shoving her hands in the pockets of her shorts – what could fit of her hands in those miniscule pockets, anyway – and glancing at him.

"So." Walter stopped, turning to face her. He accidentally kicked some sand up on her shoes, and they both looked down. Paige dropped to the sand, tugging them off, and he eased down beside her.

"So," she started, seeming uncomfortable. "Those...those feelings...that we had for one another."

He shifted. "Yes."

She drew in a long breath, as if for courage. "I still have them," she blurted. Walter blinked, _I know_ right on his lips. He kept it in as Paige continued. "We kinda drifted apart, and then Tim and Linda...and I thought that they'd fade away, but they...they did the opposite."

Walter could feel his heart beginning to pound. Hard. "Do...d – do you..." he stammered, terrified to get the words out and put her in a position to reject him, hurt him worse than it'd ever hurt in his head.

"It's not that simple. I've been lying to you for a long time."

Walter frowned. "What? What do you mean?"

"Well, not so much lying. But withholding." She looked at him, guilt in her eyes. "Walter...there's something you should know."

He felt a twinge of nerves start, low in his stomach, Megan would have called them _butterflies._ "O – okay."

"So you, uh..." she toyed with her fingers. "You don't remember anything of when you were hypoxic?"

"No." Walter cocked his head. "I didn't start singing _Christmas in Killarney_ in an Irish accent, did I?"

Paige blinked. "No. But I definitely want to swing back to _that_ at some point." She dug her heels into the sand. "Walter, things got really...intimate...when you were up there."

"Intimate...how?"

"You hallucinated. You thought that I was there too. Up in space with you. We were...rather, you thought we were dancing. And then..." She bit her lip, looking away, and Walter felt his eyes start to widen as he got an idea of how she was going to finish that sentence. Paige looked back at him, her lip only releasing from between her teeth when she spoke again. "And then you told me that you loved me. And I...I said it back."

Walter felt all the color drain from his face – or at least as much of the color that _could_ drain from his face, he thought wryly, remembering a joke his sister had once made. Just seconds before Paige resumed speaking, he'd guessed that he'd somehow confessed his feelings to her. The knowledge that she's reciprocated hit him so hard that if he hadn't already been sitting, he'd have hit the deck. "You..."

"And I didn't...at the time I thought that I was just doing what I had to do. To get you home. No matter what. It's not a lie when I say I'd have said anything to save your life. I'd so recently been angry with you, I wanted to give Tim a fair chance, I...I'd been putting so much energy into convincing myself that I had no feelings for you that I didn't believe it at the time. But..." she suddenly looked at him with widened eyes. "Walter, I wanted to tell you. Just days afterward I wanted to find out if you remembered, and talk about what it all meant. But Toby advised against it. To protect you. And I _was_ with Tim at the time. He was right, it wouldn't have been appropriate given all the circumstances, contexts, you know, but..."

"Paige." He reached out and touched her arm. "You're rambling."

"I know I just don't know how to stop," she said. "How about...how about you say things. Now. Anything. Just don't let me continue. I'm sorry. Please don't hate me."

Walter wasn't used to seeing her this frazzled. "I could never hate you." He swallowed, thinking about what words to use. "I mean, if I didn't already know, I might have been angry at first."

"You..." she cocked her head. "You just said you didn't know."

"Not about this. But I overheard you last week. You were on the couch, dreaming, after that case. You were talking in your sleep, and you said my name, and then you said you loved me. And I didn't know what it meant but you can't lie in dreams. So I figured...but I was too afraid to..." he trailed off, suddenly realizing that maybe he had this all wrong. "I assumed. I assumed it meant you loved me back. But Toby..."

"Toby."

"Toby said it wasn't a good idea to say anything to you. And I think he was right. Dreams should be private. And your dreams aren't mine to share."

Paige sighed. "I guess we both have our secrets."

Walter looked towards the ocean. He wasn't angry with her. But it _was_ a lot to process...she'd known, all this time, how his heart pounded when she was close to him? How much he longed for those all – to – brief moments whenever she'd gently touch his back, or his elbow, or his chest? How badly he longed to hold her and kiss her and bury his face in her neck?

If he hadn't overheard her nightmare, he'd be horrified and upset. But if she did mean it...

"Walter," Paige said softly. "Walter, do you still love me?"

He continued to stare at the water, lapping gently against the shore, about thirty feet in front of them. He sighed. "I'm never going to stop loving you."

He heard her draw in a breath, and he glanced to the side. The sun was setting rapidly now, and she looked stunning in the evening light. The way she was looking at him now told him that in his attempt to be blatantly honest, state facts as he was comfortable with doing, he'd somehow said the absolute right thing. Her lips parted, her tongue wetting them, and then his name escaping from between them. They stared at each other for what felt like forever. Then Walter cleared his throat. "Paige, I do want to be with you," he said. "Now, I know that I'm not entitled. To your heart. This isn't the store at the arcade and there's no algorithm to figuring out humans. But...but I want you to know that you have mine if you want it, and I hope you know that I would never do anything to intentionally hurt yours. I do care about things like that. I'm just as human as you are."

She reached out, putting a hand on his knee. "I know."

He smiled hesitantly.

Paige scooted closer. "Walter..."

"Hmmm?"

"You _do_ have it. My heart. I love you."

A moment of silence passed between them, and then Walter let out a breath through his nose, his nostrils starting to burn as his eyes...they didn't well up, but they certainly were doing something. "Good," he said, "good."

She scooted closer again, slinging an arm around his neck and smiling at him. "You know I was afraid that I might lose you forever?"

 _And I, you._ They still had things to talk about, to work through. But they didn't have to do those things apart. He leaned over, brushing his lips lightly against hers. "Impossible."


End file.
